Monday, March 12, 2012

Good Year for TBB/Essay Win

I scored 14th highest of 115 brackets over at the Bracket Project (I'm TBB) this year. It was a very good year, and I love to see so much consistency between long-time bracketeers and the actual committee. I am very happy I missed on Iona, but wish Drexel had gotten in as well.

Also, I co-wrote a piece that won the Championship Fortnight essay contest over at the Midmajority. It is in fellow Sun Belt and North Texas fan Ross Lancaster's voice and was edited by Denver fan Brendan Loy. Great fun!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

FINAL Bracket: Selection Sunday

This is the final bracket. St. Bonnie did indeed earn their spot and Seton Hall was shaved off.

I think NC State and Cal will get in. It's the last two spots that are a total crap shoot. I took the following for these (admittedly shaky) reasons.

1. Drexel. 24-2 since December 3. 19-1 in last 20 and that loss was in the conference title game against an absolutely smokin' VCU club. Yes, there are plenty of reasons to leave them out, but that's strong stuff compared to most other Bubble team "best reason."

2. South Florida. 13-7 Big East. Most Bubblers don't have late-season wins over clubs like Cincinnati and at Louisville, and the Bulls finished two games clear of Louisville in the Big East.

This is not to say these clubs belong IN over other Bubble teams, but these components spoke loudly to me when looking at the other profiles.

As always, this is a lesson in how the last few spots are a result of a process conducted by ten human beings.

Bracket Update: Selection Sunday

Bracket is up. I have a couple of contingencies worked out for today.

1. Winner of Michigan State/Ohio State gets the final 1-seed.

2. If St. Bonnie wins, Seton Hall gets the axe.

I may tinker and will continue to ponder teams like Northwestern, Iona, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Washington, and some others. The really questionable ones that I have IN at the moment are South Florida, Drexel and Seton Hall. I will not bat an eye if any of those are left out.

Friday, March 09, 2012

A new bracket has been posted. It's "spin the wheel, fill the line" at the bottom. Lots of teams in play, none of whom are easy to put in.

I picked Colorado State, Xavier, Miami (Fl), Texas, NC State, Drexel, Seton Hall (I know...), and Northwestern (I know, I know...) over Mississippi State, South Florida, Washington, Oregon, Saint Joseph's, ORU, Iona, Tennessee, UCF, on and on and on. MANY teams still in the mix.

I am very excited for the A-10 games today. The door is open for a few of those teams with a deep run.

Lockbox and One Stop are up to date as well.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

WKU Season Journey

Can't get enough WKU? You can read nine WKU recaps spanning games in November through the end of regular season via the 800 Games Project over at the Midmajority.

One more to come (the win over North Texas for the NCAA bid) at some point later today or tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

One Stop/WKU Congrats!

I have updated the One Stop Shop. I will work on the bracket/Lockbox late tonight and/or tomorrow.

And, of course, I have a very long and wonderful tale of my 30 hour trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and back to witness the WKU Hilltoppers complete their improbable run to the Sun Belt Tourney title! I hope to have that up late tonight.

Monday, March 05, 2012

One Stop Complete, Lockbox Update 3/5

All 30 conference tourney brackets are up and ready/in progress/finished.

Lockbox updated. There are enough bracket projections out there, and I'll update as the week goes along. But, here, I'll mainly focus on the One Stop Shop and the Lockbox.

The Bubble by the Numbers
--31 Automatic Bids. That number will not change this season. Black italics means a team is the projected auto-bid for that conference.
--37 At-Large Bids (AL). That is also a static number.
--20 AL teams are listed in black (or are LOCKS). LOCKS cannot miss, even if they lost out. The black teams could miss in March, but most are a win away at this point.
--I have seven other AL teams listed in blue, which means they are on their way, but losing an early conference tourney game could put them on the Bubble.
--That means 27 AL slots are taken, leaving the Bubble at 10 at the moment. Generally, this number will shrink as we head toward Selection Sunday. Bubble-IN teams are in green, Bubble-OUT teams are in red.